Blog – Page 2 – Humblebee

humblebee hive – retrofit #1

Written on February 20, 2022.

It’s fair to say phase 1 of humblebee HQ’s retrofit has stretched over quite some time… We started planning – with a duly filled-in draft Passivhaus (PHPP) model – back in, ooh, I don’t quite recall, but a good 2.5-3 years ago. We are broadly aiming for the...

humblebee news

Written on September 19, 2021.

People Powered Retrofit Just an update to let you know I am a Retrofit Assessor for Urbed and the Carbon Coop‘s People Powered Retrofit scheme. Unfortunately, they have a long waiting list for assessments, which householders can then progress through the design stages and construction,...

Home of 2030….now

Written on December 4, 2020.

Today the winners of the Home of 2030 competition have been announced, but win or lose, we know how important it is to get future housing right for the next generation. We took the 5 Capitals approach to try to redress the balance towards the Social, Human and Natural worlds, and the Construction...

The Positive+ Collective

Written on August 4, 2020.

“When you buy from a small business an actual person does a little dance.” Wow, wow, wow! I am so excited because a few months ago, an ex-colleague from my Arup London days – the brilliant Adrian Campbell of changebuilding – asked me if I’d be interested in contributing to a design...

The War on Plastic – hey, what’s the problem?

Written on November 3, 2019.

Plastic, a journey across the seven seas… So… what’s the problem with plastic? Why has our wonder material been making so many waves at the moment. And is it really that bad? Aren’t alternatives just as bad if not worse (this I hear a lot…). Here goes… According to the BBC documentary...

Healthier Homes – What can you do?

Written on May 20, 2019.

No more draughty, gas guzzling dwellings – my top tips for improving comfort, indoor health and energy efficiency. The switch in most households to LED lighting was the largest contribution to the drop in the UK’s carbon emissions last year. Meanwhile, the incentives for renewable energy...

I have a new gadget… a thermal imaging camera!

Written on January 27, 2019.

Or the use of one I should say… I hate being cold. I’m pretty “nesh” as they might describe me in these parts, or “frileuse” in my family…. So maybe it was accidentally on purpose that I fell into my job as a “comfort” engineer. I might therefore be forgiven for my mission to provide as...

What’s in a name?

Written on January 24, 2019.

That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet…” So here it is – my brand name launch… welcome to humblebee! Why, I hear you whisper? As soon as I told my children I was going to stop working for Arup (“mummy, that means you’re free!”… heart strings properly tugged),...

Let’s talk about mould…

Written on August 20, 2018.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease called CIDP, the chronic version for Guillain-Barré syndrome. It started with pins and needles in both feet, migrated to the rest of my legs and started in my fingers and hands with a gradual loss of sensitivity. Then came muscle...